Family Fun Saturday - Bugsy Malone

Paramount, 1976

Starring Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, Florrie Dugger, John Cassisi

Directed by Alan Parker

Music and Lyrics by Paul Williams

This may be the most unique family musical I'll review at this blog. I've seen musicals with all-black casts and all-Asian casts, but this is likely the first and only musical film with an all-child cast. Parker was apparently inspired to make this one after his son was too young to see The Godfather, but not to be interested in 30's gangster stories. During a family trip, he told his kids the story of a gangster named Bugsy Malone, and it was his son who said kids should be the heroes. How well does this idea work today? Let's begin on the shorter-than-usual mean streets of New York in the late 20's and find out...

The Story: Fat Sam (Cassisi) is the top gangster in town and the owner of the Grand Slam speakeasy, but he's worried that it won't be for long. His rival Dandy Dan (Martin Lev) has a new type of "spurge guns" that shoot rapid-fire balls of cream. When a kid is "creamed," they're out of the running. He keeps claiming he's too busy to see Blousey Brown (Dugger), a pretty little blonde who hopes to be a singer. Bugsy (Baio) does see her, and he thinks she's wonderful. She thinks he's annoying at first, especially after Fat Sam's singer moll Talluah (Foster) gives Bugsy a kiss on his forehead. 

After he helps Fat Sam out of a cream-covered trap set by Dandy Dan and his boys, Bugsy now has the money to take Blousey out for a boat ride and to dinner. He loses the money, but is helped out by a sweet-natured tramp named Leroy Brown (Paul Murphy) he wants to train to be a boxing champ. Meanwhile, Fat Sam hires Bugsy again after he loses his last man. Bugsy and Leroy need to recruit a group of local bums to find those splurge guns and get them out from under Dapper Dan's nose, before they're all out of the game for good.

The Song and Dance: This is one of the most adorable musicals I've ever seen. The details are hilarious. Even the sets are scaled to the size of the kids. They brew bootleg root beer instead of booze and drive little antique cars that move by pedal power. Not only is everything kid-sized, but it's historically accurate to the late 20's-early 30's, too. Baio makes a nice debut as the wise guy boxing promoter who gets caught up in the action. Dugger make a lovely little aspiring movie star, too. Too bad this was her only film. Williams' score is even better here than in Phantom of the Paradise, with two nice spoof ballads and one of the strangest finales in musical history.

Favorite Number: We open with the mini-chorus girls and Talluah showing their stuff for the adoring crowd of well-dressed youngsters at "Fat Sam's Grand Slam." "Tomorrow" is the big solo for Fizzy (Albin "Humpty" Jenkins), the sweeper who desperately wants to be a dancer for Fat Sam, and one of Talluah's girls Priscilla (Sarah E. Joyce). Fat Sam's boys (Donald Waugh, Jeffery Stevens, Pete Holder, and Michael Kirkby) sing about how they love to be "Bad Boys" while wrecking havoc on the street. "So You Want to Be a Boxer?" Cagey Joe (Davidson Knight) asks Bugsy and Leroy when they come to his gym for a musical fighting lesson. "My Name Is Talluah" is Foster's big moment, as she vamps it up for the crowd in the speakeasy with her chorus girls. Bugsy encourages the "Down and Out" boys at the soup kitchen to help him and Leroy with Dandy Dan's goons in a rousing march. 

Trivia: Scott Baio's debut film. 

There's apparently two stage versions of this that turn up occasionally on children's theaters, especially in England. Both include two songs cut from the film, "That's Why They Call Him Dandy" and "Show Business." 

What I Don't Like: My biggest complaint is that finale. Most of the cast gets covered in cream, and then...they all make up and sing and dance? Sounds like they couldn't figure out how to end the movie on a lighter note. There's also times when the novelty of kids being gangsters doesn't work - one of the kids overdoes it or sounds awkward, or the story starts to get a little too maudlin for something featuring 12-year-olds throwing cream pies. 

I really wish they let the kids sing with their own voices, rather than dubbing them with Williams and other adults. First of all, one women sings all of the girls' numbers, and while she's passable as Dugger, her high voice sounds nothing like Jodie Foster's deep-for-her-age one. Second, it makes the numbers look a little awkward and disconnected. 

The Big Finale: Worth digging through the cream for if you or your kids have any interest in the cast, gangster tales, or 30's musicals.

Home Media: It was never released on disc in North America. Streaming and looking for it occasionally on TCM are your best bet on this side of the Atlantic.

Amazon Prime 

Robin and the 7 Hoods

Warner Bros, 1964
Starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, and Peter Faulk
Directed by Gordon Douglas
Music by Jimmy Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn

Today and Saturday, I'm going to be looking at two versions of one of the most beloved legends in English history, that of the outlaw Robin Hood. It's been told in every way possible and in every possible setting since the 12th century. This musical gangster tale, the last of the four "Rat Pack" films, may be one of the more unusual. How well does this tale of a mob boss who robs a corrupt fellow gangster to give to the poor fare now? Let's head to the birthday party of "Big" Jim Stevens in Chicago to find out...

The Story: "Big" Jim Stevens (Edward G. Robinson) was the most respected and feared mob boss in Chicago in the early 30's...until his second-in-command Guy Gisborne (Faulk) had him shot down at his birthday party. Gisborne demands that all the mobs in town come together under him and pay him protection money. Robbo (Sinatra) and his boys don't like this one bit. Rob was close with Big Jim, and he has no desire to share the town with Gisborne or anybody.

Trouble is, Rob has only a few boys, including the pool shark "Little" John (Martin) whom he hires after he sees him play and gun-crazy Will Scarlet (Sammy Davis Jr.). Gisborne has nearly 90, plus is bribing the corrupt Sheriff Glick (Robert Foulk) to look the other way. They end up destroying each other's nightclubs. When the Sheriff insists on not doing further harm, Gisborne has him eliminated. Meanwhile, Jim's elegant daughter Marion (Barbara Rush) tries to get Rob to help her avenge her father's death. Rob turns her down, even when she offers him 50,000 dollars.

His men turn her cash over to an orphanage. The grateful secretary Allan A. Dale (Crosby) announces to the newspapers that Robbo is a "Robin Hood" who gives to the poor. He convinces Rob to set up a string of charitable operations as a front for his nightclubs, with Dale in charge of the charities. Suddenly, Rob and his boys are not only doing gangbusters business, but they have the public on their side, too. Gisborne's determined to show Rob for what he is...and Marion still wants in on the take, too. When Gisborne accuses Rob of murdering the sheriff and Marion goes after John, it'll take all of Rob's ingenuity - and a little help from the public - to not end up part of a cornerstone of building on the Miracle Mile.

The Song and Dance: Evidently, this was a troubled production from the get-go, with several actors replaced, Sinatra's friend John F. Kennedy being assassinated during filming, and his son being kidnapped shortly after. Whatever headaches they went through were worth it. This is a colorful and unique tale with a great score and some fun performances. Faulk makes a surprisingly good greedy mob boss, and lumbering Victor Buono is hilarious as the slow-witted Deputy Sheriff Potts. I'm also glad that Sammy Davis Jr. is treated a little better here than in most of the "Rat Pack" movies, even getting a nice solo in "Bang Bang!" and a funny scene where he has to find a telephone in the remains of a room wrecked by Gisbourne's boys.

Favorite Number: "My Kind of Town" was the hit and got an Oscar nomination, but my favorite number from this one is "Style." Rob and John teach the old-fashioned Allan A. Dale how to update his fashion sense and his vocabulary by letting him pick and choose from their closets. Three of the most famous singers of the 20th century in a simple "straw hat and cane" routine - it doesn't get any better than that.

Crosby also gets in on two catchy chorus numbers. He admonishes the boys at the orphanage "Don't Be a Do-Badder" after Rob is framed, and joins Rob and the other guys at the soup kitchen for the rousing faux revivalist song "Mr. Booze."

Trivia: Peter Lawford was originally supposed to be Allan A. Dale, but he got into a feud with Sinatra shortly before filming and was replaced with Crosby.

What I Don't Like: I kind of wish Marion had a number, even just a slow solo to try to lure the guys in. Maybe she should have sung instead of Faulk. His solo "All for One" in the opening was painful. I'm a bit surprised Sinatra doesn't have more songs in his own vehicle, either. Both Crosby and Martin sing more than he does.

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of the Rat Pack, Crosby, or gangster movies, this is a stylish and funny musical that definitely deserves a look.

Home Media: Pretty easy to find solo and as part of a set with the other Rat Pack movies on disc and streaming.

DVD
DVD - The Rat Pack Collection
Blu-Ray
Google Play

Neptune's Daughter

MGM, 1949
Starring Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalban, Betty Garrett, and Red Skelton
Directed by Edward Buzzell
Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser

The controversy over the song "Baby It's Cold Outside" during the recent holiday season and the advent of colder weather in my part of the US has inspired me pull out this one. The song and the movie were major hits in 1949. "Cold Outside" actually won the Oscar for Best Song that year. Does this movie flow along swimmingly, or does it unravel like an old bathing suit? Let's float along to Southern California to see for ourselves...

The Story: Joe Backett (Keenan Wynn), a partner in a swimsuit-designing firm, convinces champion swimmer Eve Barrett (Williams) to give up her amateur status and join the company. She becomes one of their top models and even designs her own line of popular bathing suits. Her sister Betty (Garrett) is more interested in the arrival of a South American polo team and their handsome star, Jose O'Rourke (Montalban). Betty meets what she thinks is O'Rourke, but is really Jack Sprat (Skelton), the team's clumsy masseur, who is pretending to be O'Rourke - and South American - in order to be more magnetic to women.

Sprat's attempts to woo Betty work too well. Eve thinks the real Jose is after her sister, and tells him as much when she sees him at the swimsuit factory. He's more interested in wooing her. Joe, who has a crush on her, would prefer she didn't woo anybody and focused on work. Eve agrees to date Jose only to keep him from dating her sister, but she ends up falling for him.

Meanwhile, gangster Lukie Luzette (Ted de Costa) has bet big money on the polo game and orders his men to kidnap Jose and keep the South American team from winning. They initially kidnap the wrong Jose, grabbing Jack instead. After they do find the real Jose, Betty has to get Jack on a horse and lead the team to victory and pair her sister up with the right man at her swimming ballet show.

The Song and Dance: A great cast works out nicely in this tropical-themed romp. Montalban is one of Esther Williams' few leading men who seems just as relaxed in the water as she does and looks fetching in a polo uniform. Garrett and Skelton have a great time together as the man-crazy sister and the masseur who just wants a girl, any girl, to like him. This is also one of the rare times we get to see a live-action Mel Blanc as Skelton's buddy Pancho. The Technicolor cinematography is gorgeous - check out the swimsuit fashion show halfway through or the big water ballet in the finale.

The sudden gangster plot seems a bit out of left-field, but it does add some needed excitement to the second half. It gives the movie a lift beyond the usual romantic comedy plots of most of Williams' other films and allows Skelton to have fun on horseback.

Favorite Number: "Baby It's Cold Outside" was the hit of the film and is probably it's most famous number, and it doesn't disappoint. We actually get the innuendo from both genders - first Jose performs it for a reluctant Eve, then Betty uses it to try to get Jack to hang around.

This movie's two best numbers don't need any words to astonish. Xaviar Cugat and His Orchestra provide the music for "Jungle Rhumba," an amazing tropical dance routine for the chorus, while Williams and Montalban perform the unnamed water ballet in the finale that involves colored lights under the surface and fabric rolling across the water.

Trivia: "Baby It's Cold Outside" was a last-minute addition. The song originally intended for that number was "Slow Boat to China," but the censors didn't like some of the lyrics. Ironically, it went on to become a pop hit on it's own.

What I Don't Like: I feel sorry for poor Joe. He really loved Eve, and not only did her relationship with Jose seem kind of sudden, he did act kind of smarmy with her, especially in the first half. I almost wish she'd let Betty have Jack, sent Jose back to South America, and kept Joe and the business. In fact, most people will likely be less offended by "Cold Outside" (at least it lets both genders in on the innuendo) and more by Blanc's stereotypical Mexican. (And I can't be the only one who sees Speedy Gonzolez every time Blanc opens his mouth.)

While the plot isn't quite as thin as some of Williams' other vehicles, it does lose steam mid-way through. The whole mistaken identity thing becomes wearisome and a bit boring by the end of the movie, and the gangsters suddenly turn up in the last act for no reason other than to give Skelton a reason to goof around on the polo court.

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of the cast, Loesser, or Williams' other vehicles, or want to know where "Baby It's Cold Outside" came from, this is worth seeing for the two dance routines and "Cold Outside" alone.

Home Media: At press time, this one is only available as part of two Esther Williams/TCM DVD collections and on several streaming platforms.

DVD - TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams, Volume One 
DVD - TCM Greatest Classic Films: Legends - Esther Williams Vol. 2
Google Play